180308: Dahab

Hobart had a lousy night. Terrible diarrhea. Food poisoning I think. Worry if he can go for the dive.

I was pretty excited about the dive. The instructor brought us to the lighthouse, which is one of Dahab’s famed spot for diving. I must say my virgin dive is nothing short of breathtaking. It’s one-to-one, so I get to rest and sun-tan while Hobart gets his kick. Then comes my virgin dive. I hadn’t had much to do, my instructor was in charge of helping me adjust my buoyancy and checking time and depth of dive. And the corals – pure amazement. I barely had time to think about taking pictures, though I had a couple taken by the instructor on a coral reef. I was disappointed it all took so little time, though I was starting to feel a little chilly in the waters. Should truly contemplate taking a diving course. But the Red Sea will always be memorable, at least for me.

For lunch, we decided against taking main courses. Instead, we had an assortment of sandwiches – pitta bread filled with different vegetarian fillings. Mosaka is a personal favourite of mine, a mix of aubergine, tomatoes, sweet potatoes and cucumber.

Hobart couldn’t continue any activity after lunch, I get he’s too tired from the diarrhea. I went on myself to the post office to buy some decent postcards, the ones along the beach were just too bleached. Oh, and I got a bargain for a sweatshirt as well. Embroidered with ‘Red Sea Divers, Dahab’, some bastard tried to charge me 110LE for it. A young chap priced it at 80LE, and I offered 50LE haha. Final price was at 70LE, and the dude looked freaking pissed, heh. I’m beginning to enjoy pissing Egyptians like what I did to Turks.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the hotel restaurant by the sea, enjoying calm sea waters and cool breeze. And I was soon accompanied by a pot of nice Egyptian tea and chocolate pancakes, a good relaxing break from the hustle-bustle we had from the past few days.

ZQ and Eve took damn long to return from Sharm El Sheikh. I almost drifted into deep sleep just when they came back. Dinner was at this restaurant along a road on the outskirts of the bazaar, and that’s probably why it’s cheap, filling and comprehensive in selection. The kebab is expensive though, but the mutton stewed with lady’s fingers is absolutely a delicacy.

We stopped at a pastry bakery to get some lunch for tomorrow. And coincidentally, it’s owned by a couple from China. Our ability to speak Mandarin made it so easy to converse with them, and we soon became very friendly. I guess when you’re in foreign lands, you do look for people of the same race, regardless of nationality. All the more better if there’s a common mother tongue language. She not only gave us discounts, she gave us some breadsticks for snacks and other pastries to sample.

170308: St Catherine, Mount Sinai

Dahab is an unknown place to me, at least till I came on this trip. Today was planned to go to St Catherine’s, for we need 12 to 18 hours’ rest at sea level after diving before climbing which is not acceptable. There just wasn’t enough time. Stayed at a resort actually, and we thought breakfast was included but it wasn’t. Paid 7 euros more for the Sinai trip just so we could watch sunset, we can’t make it for the sunrise trip anyway. We might even pay more than 7 euros for rented blankets and notoriously disgusting coffee (according to Anthony).

At first, me and Hobart were supposed to do snorkelling while Eve and ZQ dive in Ras Mohamed. But in the end, we decided to do diving instead, and stay behind in Dahab. Cheaper, more time to relax, and more exciting than just snorkelling.

The journey to St Catherine, again it seems, is filled with bribery. The driver bribed the tourism police “to register foreigners on road”, and I suspect all the checkpoint guards along the way. And when we reached, St Catherine’s Monastery is closed. Maybe tourists usually spent more time on Mount Sinai than in the monastery. We had a guide, and he gave us the option of either taking the more hazardous climb up Mount Sinai, or walk the gentle camel trail. He did warn us that the climb is tough, and we can’t descend by that route after sunset. We chose the climb to ascend, of course, since we would take the camel route to descend anyway. And the climb is challenging indeed. Up till Elijah’s Basin where both the climb and the slope converge, the altitude stands at 450m. Multiply that by 5 steps a metre (20cm a step is tiring, I assure you), the extra 2,250 steps is strenuous. We had to rest a few times along the way to the Basin. But the view gets more and more amazing as we ascend, especially in the glaring sun and cooler-than-expected air. Temperature drops as we ascend, partly because of the altitude and partly the setting sun.

We got to the summit an hour before sunset, the entire climb took us 2 whole hours. Breathtaking scenery, coupled with amazing sunlight and our photographic creativity makes the hour super enjoyable. The short sunset can’t be described with words, it’s just so different to watch from Mount Sinai. Special indeed, like the sunset I had on the Bodrum Bay.

We couldn’t really stay since we had no torches, hence we descended just as the last ray of sun disappeared. The slope is very easy to traverse after experiencing the 2 hour climb. We barely had 30 minutes of twilight before it gets really hard to walk. Luckily for us, the moon was shining so bright tonight, it would have all the werewolves jealous of our fortune. Sometimes, the shadows cast by the moon on stones are really hard to differentiate from camel poo, I’m afraid. Almost broke my ankles and knees several times while trying to avoid ‘camel poo’ and end up step on nothingness or another rock. Can’t help but notice that night sky in the desert is beautiful as ever, when the moon shines brightly and stars illuminate in the absence of city lights.

Dinner was at this fish and seafood restaurant. Its owner was so keen on our business that he offered soup, bread, salad, rice and chips free with every main course. Guess he must have been really desperate, we were his only customers. Prices are pretty decent, with a total of 122LE inclusive of fresh mango juice made from iced mangoes. Pretty exotic, cheaper and nice compared to the sahlab Eve and Hobart had before.

ZQ and eve left by 2300h for Sharm El Sheikh for their dive, while we and Hobart enjoyed a lasagne like supper for a ridiculously cheap 5LE.

160308: Cairo, Giza, Saqqara

Pyramid day. Itinerary: Giza Complex and Saqqara. We got a driver to ferry us around for 200 LE. We thought he was honest, till he sent us to camel traps. Got very disappointed with him, and insisted on going without camels. Bet he got pissed.

The sphinx is not a big as I thought it would be, maybe photos tend to exaggerate the size too much. There’re only walls and pillars left in the Sphinx Temple, the ceilings are pretty much gone. There were tonnes of tourists on the ramp beside the sphinx towards the pyramids. Took a couple of pictures but didn’t really stay long there, I hate crowds. The ramp to pyramids was sealed off for a big portion, so we had to make a roundabout to reach the pyramids. As we entered one of the tombs, the guard made it look like we are sneaky thieves trying to sneak a photo or 2. In the end still ask for baksheesh. I pulled out 1 LE for him, and he dare grumble about it. Expected much more I think. I refused to give a damn about it, it sucks to know you’re bribing an official. Breach of integrity and principles, damn it. No wonder PAP pays civil servants highly. I can’t imagine my fellow colleagues behaving in this way, totally despicable.

The Great Pyramid of Khufu is gigantic. Great indeed. Tall and grand. But having seen and imagined the size of the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, the Great Pyramid seems a tad smaller. No wonder the Temple is said to be the biggest and most impressive Ancient Wonder, I would vouch for it. We couldn’t enter Khufu’s tomb, there’re only 300 tickets available a day. Thought Khafre will be a good substitute instead, and for only 20% of Khufu’s price. Khafre is hot, humid, narrow, small, poorly ventilated and virtually empty except for the burial sarcophagus. I wonder if it’s really worth going in, except to declare ‘I’ve been in a pyramid, and I’m not gonna do it again’.

Saqqara is an hour’s drive from Cairo. The Step Pyramid is world famous for being special, though it’s resemblance to its Latin American cousin is scary. We asked the driver to send us to Giza station, which he gladly did and helped us with buying of tickets. But sleeper trains are now full, no tickets available. Damnit. We bought 1st class cabin tickets instead which is ¾ cheaper than sleeper trains. After all the traffic jams, we finally managed to get back to the hostel barely an hour before the coach’s departure. Hobart’s luggage hasn’t arrived. So much for Egyptian efficiency.

Along the way to the bus station, we were dying with hunger. Hit a food place, and bought koshary (a mix of rice, macaroni, spaghetti, yellow peas and a bean paste with a clear yellow syrup and a tomato paste that looks spicy but isn’t). For 5 LE, it’s a gigantic portion. Getting a big eater like me full is not an easy task, tsk tsk.

The bus journey isn’t nice. Seats are alright, with a nice back-cline adjustment for easy sleeping. But there are so many security checks that we cant really sleep well. Practically wake up every hour to show our passport and visa, plain stupid. And I don’t even know if they’re police. Young men dressed in fancy casual clothes are not convincing as policemen, I’m sorry.

150308: Cairo

Hobart was supposed to reach at 1300h today. We decided to go to Islamic Cairo instead, so he doesn’t miss much of the prime sights. Great Pyramids can wait till Sunday.

Cairo traffic is reminiscent of Bangkok, all captured in one word: chaos. We gotta cross roads like you never care about cars ever. Our walk to Islamic Cairo took an hour, and it’s characteristically different from other places by the abundance of souvenir shops and people calling out “Japanese? Korean? Chinese?” and blah blah blah. A boring place I think, and we don’t even know our exact location. At least we got police to help us locate ourselves though they hardly know English.

Took another walk to the citadel, burned 2 hours on that. We stopped along the way at a pastry bakery, and the pastries are dirt cheap and pretty good. Sugar rush like mad, and got to skipped lunch. Got on the wrong side of the citadel, and had to walk roundabout real bad to reach the entrance. Most of the citadel is destroyed, with nothing much left except the mosque. Pretty much like the Blue Mosque of Istanbul, only smaller and very un-blue. Eve was made to wear a green cloak, I supposed they think she wore too little haha. Weather is burning hot, and she had her woollen scarf on as well. Lucky I’m not a girl.

Out of citadel, we took a cab back to our hostel. We left a note for Hobart saying that we’ll be back to meet him at 1530h. And the cab took damn long. The distance is short, but jams dragged it out to half an hour. Damn traffic.

Hobart said his luggage gonna be arriving at 1500h on Sunday. Our coach is scheduled at 1730h, so there’s a chance he’ll be without his luggage should it be late. Walking to the bus station is a tough 30 minutes, not to mention it’s very hard to find. Even asking policeman doesn’t really help, he knows nuts about English and we don’t know Arabic. Sign language barely got us there, and surprisingly the bus station is very modern and new.

Next was the train station, which is easier to find. But hell, there wasn’t any sleeper train available from Ramses station so we gotta change our plans. And the price got inflated as well, 5 USD more. Guess we may be able to get the right tickets from Giza instead.

We got hungry as we arrived in night time Islamic Cairo. Had some food at a café (?) sandwich bar (?) whatever. A lot of sandwiches using pitta bread, and all vegetarian too. Fed all of us for only 15 LE, that’s about 1.50 GBP! Next we passed by a fish place, and so dinner II. Calamari @ 48 LE a kg, fish @ 28 LE a kg, that’s dirt cheap. Somehow feels like we over-ordered when we asked for a kg of each. Damn filling.

140308: Cairo

Flight delayed. It’s our 1st time on a full service flight for vacations and travels, pretty excited about the inflight entertainment and airline food, haha. But hell, I can’t believe our bad luck. The entertainment system broke down, and barely restored after 2 hours with only audio and video broadcast. Got to watch Juno though, the American humour is so ticklish I got a Brit annoyed, tsk tsk.

BA food is pretty good, Eve and Zhenqiang (ZQ) don’t think so. Maybe it’s just me liking airline food, heh. Had a gin tonic to down with dinner.

Cairo is a very strange city. So surprised to see chauffeurs and travel agents allowed in customs area. Banks (ie money changers) are located before customs, and we had to buy visas in USD from a bank (?). The visa is actually just a flashy sticker, and I still wonder why we pay banks for it. Once out of airport, the touting is just pure madness. Lucky we know the price range for getting to city centre, otherwise would have been leeched like mad. Got a deal for 45 LE in the end, though the middleman/agent seemed to fool the driver into ferrying us for 45 LE. Kinda realised that in Egypt, it’s a dog-eat-dog world. Networking and multilinguistic ability are more important than any other skill I think. Sounds like China =X

Cairo nightlife is vibrant. Even past midnight, shops are still opened and lotsa people walking about. Armed police presence is everywhere, probably due to the 2005 bombings in Sharm El Sheikh. Our hostel is next to a Jewish Synagogue, so full of police guarding. Should be very safe, tsk tsk. But our hostel is on the 6th storey! Worse still, there was an old man guarding the lift and stingy as we are, we refuse to engage the lift so as not to pay baksheesh (tips) to the old man. Climbed the stairs for all the time we were there, what a joke.

Missing

I've been too busy (read: lazy) to log my travels, in particular Prague, Kutna Hora and Bavarian Alps.

I've since moved on to Egypt, next post.

211207: Prague

The train to Prague departs from Sudbahnhof. Quite a hassle actually, considering we are located at Westbahnhof. It’s like, ‘shouldn’t there a train to Prague from Westbahnhof?’ kind of exclamation, but the fact is that given the ‘free’ metro, we shouldn’t be complaining too much.

I don’t know why, but somehow we are always almost late for our trains. The one from Salzburg is so, the one to Bratislava is so, even this one to Prague. Boarding the train and getting a compartment some 3 minutes from departure is a frightening experience, especially in the lands where we don’t speak their native language well enough to request for bread and water or even shelter over our heads.

I like train rides, especially in the day. You might think I’m bonkers, but as a urban kid who stayed in cities all his life, traversing the countryside admiring the scenery while coup up in the comfort of a train seat is an amazing experience. You see, countryside to me only exist very much in the books I read. Of course, my experiences of countryside travel is likely to be distributed geometrically: there’s no memory effect and previous experiences don’t diminish my utility. Haha, the last sentence sounds how statistically a freak economics student I am, despite the fact that I’m not a economics major. Perhaps that’s the very telling symptom that I’m from LSE.

Arriving in Prague started with a big joke. I thought we arrived in a place called Vychod, only to realise that name occurs in every single stop we passed through since entering Czech Republic. It didn’t take long for Jordan to tell me that it most likely says ‘exit’. Seriously, that tickled me so much I can’t forget how stupid I must have sounded. But the joke evolved into a nightmare, when we realised we got off at the wrong station. Prague, it seems, has 2 stations that’s within 1 hour’s walk of each other. We’re supposed to end up at the main station, not the other one. Can’t remember the name though. But the horror lies in the fact that we did not have any Czech korunas with us. All of us came in the mentality that we would find money changers with good rates here, and brought our pounds only while saving our euros for Salzburg. Everything adds up to walking, without a map of Prague.

After walking some 15 minutes in a presumably southwards direction, we ended up at Inter-Continental. This place is where we were salvaged. Nope, we didn’t stay there. Or rather, we requested for a map, only to be provided graciously. And it took us another half an hour before we reached our hostel, freezing in the cold sunset of -7 degC. Yes! -7, can you believe it? And that’s only sunset. The Czechs have got this electronic speeding signboard along one of the roads and it displays a figure resembling -7 with some gibberish language which none of us can decipher. What else can relate to -7, other than the current temperature?

Anyway, the hostel offered us temporary relief from the freezing cold. And it’s cheap. At 8 pounds 50 a night, they offered us a free night for every 4th night we stay there. Of course, that’s only available in the low season which in this case refers to Christmas and winters.

Walking in Prague in the dark isn’t very fun a task. Besides the cold, we gotta contend with a language barrier with the majority of people out there. Along the way though, we encountered something interesting that you wouldn’t see anywhere in London, but possibly in Malaysia. Alongside the main roads, there would be these push carts accompanied by big barrels. And guess what’s in there? The traditional dish of Czechs for Christmas: black carps. And mind you, it’s not anything like the beautiful looking fishes that we see in Japanese ponds. Big, fat, ugly and looking like bloated catfish, it certainty doesn’t look like a delicacy to me. However, we witnessed something that animal welfare groups will scream about. The monger held on to a live carp that he fished from the barrel with a piece of cloth. Then holding on to a club on the other hand, he bashed the head right smack on the forehead! To worsen the experience, he whacked it a few more times to ensure that the fish is rightfully stunned and dead. Talk about animal abuse, huh.

Dinner was at a pub after a search that was suggested by Janice. Guess what, she suggested that cheap local pubs should be located in the small roads feeding of the main roads and not the main roads themselves. Rent would be cheaper, and they have no need for tourists to fund their operations for the locals would know where to look. And true enough, we found one indeed. Not before mocking its name and the street where its found, V Cipu. Sounds like very cheapo to us. The menu ranges around 100Kc, though sides like chips will set you back another 30Kc more. And there is something else I must comment on, that enticed my attention. Sure, the waitress is one hot babe that really changed my impression of how Czech girls look, but beer is at a cheap price of 23Kc!!! Ok, between beer and women, I can’t really place a particular preference for or against either. But seriously, who can resist a beer that costs under a pound for a pint? Maybe only Janice, and all those losers who think that beers are not as nice as cocktails. Come to Prague and drink and get amazed by how cheap doesn’t mean it tastes like piss.